National World War II Memorial is a monument in Washington, D.C., that honors the millions of men and women who served in the United States armed forces during World War II (1939-1945) as well as the millions more who helped on the home front. The memorial stands on the National Mall at the east end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
At the memorial’s center is a sunken pool surrounded by a granite plaza. Arches at the north and south ends of the plaza symbolize the two theaters of the war—Europe and northern Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. Fifty-six granite pillars, decorated with bronze wreaths, extend in semicircles from the arches. The pillars represent the U.S. states and territories of the war period. A curved wall on the plaza’s west side is decorated with 4,000 gold stars. Each star honors 100 of the over 400,000 members of the U.S. armed forces who died in the war.
The Austrian-born American architect Friedrich St. Florian designed the memorial. It was dedicated in 2004.
